Archie was seriously considering turning down a fantastic job offer after learning that his conviction would appear on his enhanced DBS certificate. However, advice from his dad gave him the confidence to disclose.

I’d been working for the NHS through an agency for approximately 2 years when I was offered the role on a permanent basis.

However after the initial feeling of euphoria it suddenly dawned on me that I might need to have a criminal record check. The agency had never done one and so I’d never had to disclose my criminal record.

I waited until I received the paperwork from HR and, as I’d expected they wanted to carry out an enhanced DBS check. I knew my conviction was about 6 years old but I had no idea whether it would show up on the DBS certificate. However after asking ‘Mr Google’ it seemed clear that enhanced DBS checks revealed everything and that I would have to disclose my conviction to the employer.

I’d only received a fine but I’d been convicted of urinating in a public place. I appreciate that it was a really stupid thing to do but I guess we all do stupid things when we’re younger. It’s definitely not something I’m proud of but I don’t think I would have been a problem explaining it to a new employer that I didn’t know.

However, the thought of disclosing to somebody I’d known for 2 years just filled me with dread. I had a great relationship with all my colleagues and I was really worried that they’d see me differently or not want to work with me. What if the job offer got revoked once HR had seen my enhanced certificate?

The more I thought about it the bigger the problem became until I’d convinced myself that the only option would be to turn the job down. That weekend I went to have Sunday lunch with my parents and when my dad asked me how my job was going I blurted everything out to him. As a no nonsense Yorkshireman all he could say was:

Get over yourself boy and grow a pair. Just go in there and tell them that when you were younger you were an idiot and did something really stupid.”

Good old dad!!

So on the Monday morning with dad’s voice still ringing in my ears I arranged to go and speak with HR. At that point I was feeling pretty confident but I could tell from the HR manager’s face that it wasn’t going to be quite so straightforward. After my disclosure she thanked me and said:

I’m surprised that this hasn’t come to light before but I’ll not make any decisions until I see your enhanced certificate.”

I walked out of the room feeling dejected and ashamed but, as the day work on, I got my fighting spirit back and was determined that whatever the decision was, I wouldn’t let it lie. I was the best person for the job and I’d fight for it.

I’m pleased to say that when the DBS certificate came back all was fine and I got my new employment contract from the NHS. However, I’m aware that things could have been very different:

• If I was a new applicant, unknown to HR and the department it’s likely my application would have been rejected in favour of somebody with a clean DBS certificate.
• If my dad hadn’t given me a good talking to I wouldn’t have gone through with the disclosure, I would have simply turned the job down.

Having decided to pursue a career in the NHS what would I have done if the job offer had been refused?

I received a conviction for urinating up a wall in a side street not realising that I could be seen by a woman and her young daughter. As I said above, I was young and stupid but I could just have easily got into a fight in a pub and been charged with common assault (or worse) or graphited my name in the local park and been convicted of criminal damage. It’s not the case that one offence is worse than the other but they can all be committed by young people who fail to think through the consequences of their actions. But, most of us grow up, most of us wise up. We get married, we have kids of our own. We become respectable, tax paying members of society.

So come on employers, try to see the person standing in front of you now and not the person on the DBS certificate.

And lastly, because I don’t say it often enough. Thanks dad for always keeping me grounded, for giving me a push when I needed it and for your unconditional love and support.

By Archie (name changed to protect identity)

Useful links

• Comment – Let us know your thoughts on this post by commenting below.
• Information – We have some practical self-help information on  Information on disclosing criminal records to employers.
• Discuss – There are some interesting discussions on this issue on our online forum.

As part of her job Susie engages with both individuals with a criminal record and employers. She says that there have been some changes in employers attitudes towards those with a criminal record over the past 10 years but more still needs to be done and it’s important therefore to share examples of good practice.

For the last 10 years I have worked for an organisation which supports people with a criminal record back into work. During the course of my work, I regularly engage with employers trying to get them to recognise the benefits of employing somebody with a criminal record.

The world has changed a lot over the last 10 years and many of the employers I work with have a much more diverse workforce than they did 10 years ago. For many years I’ve seen employers such as Timpsons and Greggs recruiting people with criminal records and speaking passionately about it, however employers like these are few and far between.

This disappoints me immensely as I know that many of the individuals I work with are people that in the past have made mistakes or wrong decisions; they’re not habitual offenders, they just want to put the past behind them and move on.

However I’ve recently worked with an employer who has taken such a sensible approach to recruitment that I felt it was important to share it. Not only with the other employers I engage with who might be reviewing their recruitment practices and policies but, also people who are currently looking for work in the hope that this will make them feel a lot more positive about the future.

I’m not going to go into the specifics of the individuals criminal record or name the employer involved. All I’ll say is that I’ve been working with this particular young man for a while (I’ll call him Jason) and he has a criminal record that he no longer needs to disclose to an employer. However, due to the huge amount of media interest in his case (the offence was a serious one) details of it can easily be found online if anybody ‘googles’ him.

Recently, Jason was invited to attend an interview, working shifts for a small distribution company. The company were based very close to where his offence took place and there was every possibility that Jason would come into contact with people who knew about his past.

He was concerned that if he were offered the job, the employer could find out about his criminal record (either from the internet, or someone else) and so, against my advice, at the end of the interview he chose to disclose.

He made it clear to the employer that he didn’t need to do so but he wanted to be completely up front and honest and wanted the employer to be aware of all the circumstances before making a decision. The employer thanked him for his honesty and said he’d be in touch.

When Jason told me what he’d done there was a part of me that really admired his honesty but I couldn’t help thinking that he’d probably blown his chances with the employer. I’d worked with them for a while and although they’d recruited others with a criminal record, these had generally been for quite low level offences. To my surprise, Jason was invited in for a further discussion.

The employer made it clear to Jason that they believed his offence to be a serious one especially as it had been against a vulnerable person. They explained that some of his shifts may involve him working unsupervised with just one other person which gave them some cause for concern. However, they felt that measures could be put in place which would mitigate any risk and Jason was offered a full time position with them.

I’m not sure that Jason realises quite how big a deal this was for the employer. Although he didn’t need to disclose once he had, most employers would have found it difficult to forget what they’d heard. But not this company. They were looking for reasons to employ him, not reasons to reject him.

I know the employer has no regrets about giving Jason a job and to date, nobody has bought his criminal record to their attention (not that it would matter now if they did). The employer knew that Jason was the right person for the job but were happy to share their concerns about the potential risk he may pose. Understanding these risks allowed measures to be put in place to protect both parties.

Anyone reading this who has a criminal record will no doubt applaud the recruitment policies of this particular employer but other employers take note – diversity promotes a better and more inviting working environment. So don’t just think of diversity in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, education and natural origin – think criminal record too.

By Susie (name changed to protect identity)

A comment from Unlock

Although Unlock’s golden rule is “only disclose if you’re asked”, there are lots of reasons why people choose to disclose even when they’re not asked or don’t need to. Like Jason, the main reason is because of information which can be found by an employer online. If you’re on licence or serving a community order, disclosing to an employer may be a condition of probation and if you know that an employer is going to carry out a formal criminal record check then you may want to disclose before an employer has sight of your DBS certificate.

Useful links

• Comment – Let us know your thoughts on this post by commenting below.
• Information – We have some practical self-help information on  Information on disclosing criminal records to employers.
• Discuss – There are some interesting discussions on this issue on our online forum.